Detroit Violence Spurs Forums at Schools

City leaders, seeking to deal with a firestorm of protest following the shooting death of a star football player at an inner city school two weeks ago, on Monday closed Detroit’s 23 high schools for two days to hold student-parent forums on the ominous wave of teen violence.

Mayor Coleman A. Young, who says he is “tired of kids shooting down kids,” also vowed to send Detroit police officers into the schools to search for weapons, bringing a new urgency to earlier, lackluster efforts to rid the schools of guns and other weapons.

The city also imposed a tough curfew on teens throughout the city; 20 youths were detained on the curfew’s first night Sunday.

New Funds Pledged

Meanwhile, Michigan Gov. James J. Blanchard has pledged new funds for space in adult prisons and new youth-offender camps in order to house 1,000 teen-age felons that Detroit police have already identified, but haven’t arrested because of a lack of prison space in the state.

The sudden series of actions comes after months of debate in Detroit over how to handle the mounting problem of teen shootings in the city, violence which has been spilling over into the hallways of the city’s schools with increasing frequency.

Although teen violence has become chronic throughout the nation, the magnitude of the crisis in Detroit seems unprecedented for a city of its size.

In Detroit, which already has the highest overall murder rate of any city in the nation, more than 100 juveniles under age 16 have been shot in just the first four months of the year, including at least 10 who have been killed, according to statistics compiled by the Detroit Free Press. In most cases, they have been shot or killed by other teen-agers.

But the crisis came most clearly into focus with the April 16 shooting death of Chester Jackson, a 17-year-old star tailback at Murray-Wright High School. A 14-year-old ninth-grader pulled out a .357 magnum pistol and gunned him down following an argument.

School Security Questioned

The slaying sparked controversy over school security and the ease with which handguns have been brought into school buildings by students.

The murder also raised questions about how Detroit’s school system deals with troubled students; his assailant had been transferred to Murray-Wright because he had been a serious discipline problem at his other school.

Still, parents’ groups now praise the school board’s decision to cancel classes in order to bring parents and students together to discuss the crisis. On Monday, attendance at the forums, which were held in each school and led by high school principals, was reported to be high.

“At least it is a start,” said Vera Rucker, whose teen-age daughter was killed last August. “You’ve got to take one step at a time, and at least the children are beginning to be aware of the problem.” Rucker is co-chairwoman of SOSAD, a group of parents pressing for an end to teen violence.

“I was at Murray-Wright today for two forums, and I was very impressed with how many people showed up,” said Amy Devone, director of KIND, another community organization trying to deal with teen violence in Detroit.

“A lot of the things going on now are good,” Devone added. “It’s just too bad we had to lose Chester first.”